MERRITT ISLAND — Saying they want consistency countywide, Brevard County commissioners voted Tuesday to form an 11-member committee to recommend a uniform closing hour for the sale and consumption of alcohol in the county.

Commission Chairman Thad Altman will head the committee. It will include representatives from the Brevard County League of Municipalities; a county judge; the Brevard County Sheriff's Office; Florida Highway Patrol; Mothers Against Drunk Drivers; Students Against Driving Drunk; liquor licensees from south, central and north Brevard; and Alcoholic Beverage Consultants of Cocoa.

The committee, to be set up immediately, will report to the commission within 30 days of its first meeting with proposals on how the county should deal with the closing-hour issue, Altman said.

''What we're concerned about is a uniform closing time in the county'' that includes the cities, he said. ''We're going to look at the bottle clubs and all the establishments'' that sell or serve alcohol, he said.

The committee was formed as a compromise during a public hearing on a county ordinance that proposed a 1 a.m. closing time for businesses in the county's unincorporated areas. Currently, the county has a 3 a.m. closing time.

Commissioners said they favored a compromise 2 a.m. closing time instead of 1 a.m. They also said the proposed ordinance lacked teeth and could be circumvented by bottle clubs and other businesses that do not sell alcohol but allow its consumption on the premises.

''It would seem to me this ordinance really doesn't do anything,'' Commissioner Andrea Deratany said. ''Sticking bottle clubs in the ordinance doesn't solve the problem'' of stopping people from drinking after closing hours, she said.

Commissioner Sue Schmitt, who proposed setting up a committee, said she was against a 1 a.m. closing time because it wouldn't be consistent with some cities that have a 2 a.m. or later shutdown.

James Greer, president of Alcoholic Beverage Consultants of Cocoa, which represents several liquor-license holders in the county, supported forming a committee and offered to serve as his company's representative.

''There are a lot of licensees who feel they never have any input'' into the closing issue, he said. Several bar owners addressed the commission during Tuesday's public hearing. Gail Passaretti, owner of The Attic on Riveredge Road just outside of Titusville -- which has a 2 a.m. closing -- told commissioners she is against earlier closing hours in the county because it would kill her business.

''Ninety percent of my business comes to me after everybody else closes,'' Passaretti said. Passaretti said the formation of the committee ''is a joke. They've commissioners already made their decision at 2 o'clock.'' Altman initially opposed setting up a committee because it would delay action on the issue. He said if the county set the precedent of establishing a reasonable closing time -- such as 2 a.m. -- the cities likely would follow suit.

However, Altman changed his position and said he would support the committee after Commissioner Charlie Roberts recommended him as its chairman. In a related move in Cape Canaveral Tuesday night, city council members passed an ordinance changing bar closing times from 4 a.m. to 2 a.m. There was little discussion and virtually no opposition from about 15 residents.